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Copy 1 




M 



REPORT 



OF A COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY THE 



ACADEMY OF MEDICINE, 



COMPARATIVE VALUE OF MILK, 



FORMED FROM THE 



SLOP OP DISTILLERIES AND OTIIER FOOD, 



WITH CHEMICAL AND MICROSCOPICAL ANALYSES 



y 



BY AUGUSTUS K. GARDNER, M.D., 

CHAIRMAN. 
READ MARCH 1, 1848. 



[Extracted from the Transactions of the N. Y. Academy of Medicine.] 



s NEW YORK: 
R. CRAIGHEAD, PRINTER, 112 FULTON STREET. 

1851. 



-< U . 



REPORT 

OF A COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY THE ACADEMY OP MEDICINE, 

UPON THE 

COMPARATIVE VALUE OF MILK. 

FORMED FROM 

THE SLOP OF DISTILLERIES AND OTHER FOOD. 

By Augustus K. Gardner, M. D., Chairman. 

REAP MARCH 1, 1848. 



Your committee appointed under the following resolution, 

Resolved, That a committee of eleven be appointed by the 
Academy, to examine into the effects, proximate and remote, 
upon the general health of the city, caused by the numerous 
distilleries, gas works, slaughter houses, milk establishments, 
lead manufactories, tanneries, and all other manufactories 
and establishments which are, or may be styled nuisances, 
from their deleterious effects upon the health ; and par- 
ticularly to report the effect upon the human economy of 
milk taken from kine, tuberculously or otherwise diseased, 
from improper food, or confinement in these milk establish- 
ments : 

have, in commencing their labors, attended to that part of their 
duties laid down in the following extract from the resolution, 
" And particularly to report the effect upon the human 
economy of milk taken from kine, tuberculously or otherwise 
diseased, from improper food, or confinement in these milk 
establishments." 

1 



2 Report of a Committee 

In investigating this matter, your committee have not for- 
gotten the importance of careful attention, accurate and 
repeated examinations, unswayed by any bias. The import- 
ance of such an investigation, of an article which constitutes 
so large a portion of the food of the inhabitants of this city, is 
evident to all. In 1842, it was estimated that the quantity of 
milk, daily used in the city of New York, amounted to more 
than 15,000 gallons, at that time principally furnished from 
the neighborhood. With the growth of the city, the consump- 
tion of milk has undoubtedly increased. The immediate 
vicinity is no longer competent to furnish the quantity 
demanded, and it now comes to us from long distances, 
brought hither by the agency of the great motor principle of 
the age — steam. The various kinds of milk which are con- 
sumed in the city may, therefore, be divided into several 
classes, according to its origin. 

1st. The grass-fed milk, brought from a distance by steam 
— as the Orange County milk, for example. 

2d. That produced by feeding the cows entirely, or partially, 
with distillery slop — which is the refuse of the grain, left ■ 
after distillation, mixed with water, with most or all of the 
spirituous ingredients extracted, brought hither by steam — as 
for example the Newburg. 

3d. Grass-fed milk produced in the neighborhood of the 
city, as some of the Bloomingdale dairy milk. 

4th. That produced partially by the administration of dis- 
tillery slop in the neighborhood, as at Brooklyn, Wallabout, 
Bloomingdale, &c. 

5th. That produced in the city, or on its outskirts, solely by 
feeding on distillery slop — as at the distilleries on Long Island, 
Sixteenth and Forty-Second Streets in this city. 

No. 1, is from cows as nearly as possible in a state of 
nature, nourished by natural food, and unconfined, having that 
exercise and pure air so necessary for health. 

No. 2, is from cows that are in some respects fed and kept 
like the former, but whose secretive organs are stimulated to 
unnatural action by distillery slops, or the grains from 
breweries, and whose winter nourishment is said to consist 
principally of this food. 



on the Cotnparative Value of Milk. 3 

No. 3, is like number one, except that it is brought to 
market by milk carts. 

No. 4, is similar to No. 2, with the same reservation as 
before. 

No. 5. is from cows kept in, or near the city, constantly 
confined in stables, and fed entirely, or nearly so, on distillery 
slop. These cows are kept in low sheds, sometimes at a 
distance from, but generally near a distillery. A description 
as summary as possible of the cow-sheds attached to John- 
son's distillery, corner of Sixteenth Street and Tenth Avenue, 
will, perhaps, give as good an idea of this method as can be 
stated in any manner. This collection of pens is selected for 
description, on account of its size and neatness, being far 
superior to any of the others in both these particulars. 

The lofty chimneys of the distillery, constantly vomiting 
forth its black and sulphurous smoke, will guide your steps 
thither. Should the wind blow towards you, the olfactory 
organs will, while yet at a distance, aid your researches. It 
extends from street to street, and between it and the Tenth 
Avenue, are the cow-sheds. Cross the avenue, and the whole 
block, to the very edge of the water, is filled with continuous 
rows of sheds, separated from one another by paved roads, 
where stand the milk carts and the cans. Enter them, and 
internally these sheds are sub-divided into apartments suf- 
ficiently large to accommodate two rows, of twelve cows each, 
standing tail to tail. They are slightly raised from the level 
of the floor, by an inclined plane, and are tied by cords, or 
leather straps which pass around the neck. Here they stand 
by day and sleep by night, without bedding, upon the wet 
floors. Between the rows is a narrow space, so inclined that 
the urine, &c, will flow off easily. Running by their heads 
is a long trough to contain the slops, or swill, as it is some- 
times called. Without the building, at proper intervals, are 
tanks containing the " slop" brought down from the distillery, 
through conduits, running under the street, and so constructed 
that by removing a plug, it will flow into the troughs imme- 
diately before the cattle, — thus saving the great labor of 
transportation, necessary when the stables are not contiguous 
to the distillery. 



4 Report of a Committee 

It is not easy to compute the number of cows kept here, 
but the lowest estimate is two thousand, the highest four 
thousand. They commence their city life in the spring, when 
the stock is almost entirely renewed, those of last year being 
fatted and carried to the shambles. They come from the 
country soon after calving, and are immediately tied up in 
these stalls. The calf is soon killed. For nutriment they are 
offered this slop, which they not unfrequently refuse to drink 
for a day or two. Starvation is their only alternative. It is, 
indeed, rather offensive with its peculiar, half sour, half 
spirituous odor, as it comes bubbling, foaming, and steaming, 
from the tanks. 

The heat of this liquor is so great that not unfrequently it 
is served to them when it would scald the finger placed in it. 
The cattle nearest to the tank, even when inured to it, draw 
back from the heat of the fumes ; the next, excited by appetite, 
carefully lap it with the ends of their tongues, hardened by 
frequent exposures of this kind ; while those further along are 
enabled to drink it as it comes cooled by the passage. 

As the toper or the habitual user of tobacco is wedded to his 
deleterious practices, so is the poor cow to this " slop." She 
soon learns to like it, and awaits the time for its distribution 
with manifest anxiety. She drinks herself full. Soon after 
she is given her pittance of hay, oil-cake, or bran. This is 
not customary in all establishments. Nature requires a 
certain quantity of bulk, and she eats a little, but with slight 
relish. From the day of her entrance into this Bastille, she 
is not allowed a single draught of pure water. She soon 
lies down, or mayhap remains standing in a very stupid state. 
This may be from repletion, but more probably from a small 
quantity of alcohol remaining in the " slop," for she seems 
drunken. When she lies down, it is not in the easy position 
of the cow in the pasture, with her feet folded under her. 
She is rather lying on her side, with outstretched neck and 
feet, resembling the uncomfortable position in which the be- 
sotted drunkard throws himself. 

The eye so meek and gentle that Homer dignified the 
queen of the gods by the epithet ftouifts, or the " ox-eyed," 
has here a staring, stupid gaze, though immediately before 



on the Comparative Value of Milk. 5 

feeding, the excitement renders it preternaturally brilliant. 
They seem to suffer but little, for the constant stupor which 
overshadows them, apparently dissipates all feeling. They 
make no attempt at resistance, braving calmly whatever is 
inflicted upon them, scarcely rising by kicks and blows ; and 
the cow formerly fractious and unruly, may here be taken by 
the nose, and the mouth opened without manifest objection — 
things almost impossible in a common stable. These cows 
are attended with much care, frequently curried, the stables 
kept as clean as possible generally. At other establishments, 
as in one near Forty-Second Street, the cows are neglected 
and the stables shockingly filthy — truly Augean stables, the 
scent of which is perceptible to a very great distance. 

A few days after their arrival, disease not unfrequently 
attacks them, and often with such virulence that it is not un- 
common for the animal, which cost $40, to be dead at the 
expiration of a fortnight after her entrance, benefiting her 
owner but little more than the value of her skin. 

One of the most common and early appearing diseases, is 
what is called by the cowherds "sore-foot." What the 
disease is your committee cannot state. The symptoms and 
pathological condition are as follow. 

After a longer or shorter residence in these stables, the 
first symptom noticed, is the tenderness of one or more feet, 
most commonly (as we gather from the keepers) the front-feet. 
This tenderness goes on increasing, accompanied by a swell- 
ing, which is generally local, situated around the hoof, but 
occasionally spreading up the leg. Sometimes but one foot is 
attacked — by foot we refer not to the foot as commonly 
designated, but rather to the anatomical division — more 
generally two, and sometimes all four. The pain soon 
becomes great, and the animal is no longer able to bear the 
weight of her body upon them. After this, she rises, if at all, 
with great reluctance. 

But little curative means are used. While all confess the 
efficacy of pasturage as a cure, it is rarely tried, for the 
disease, as a general thing, must be endured by every animal, 
sooner or later, before they become acclimated. Cold water 
is sometimes used both as preventive and remedy. This is 



6 Report of a Committee 

administered by filling the narrow passage between the rows 
of cows with water, and by drawing back they are enabled to 
stand with their hinder feet in it. Heat is generally con- 
sidered to be the cause of the complaint, and when sick they 
are occasionally allowed to go out and breathe the fresh air. 
If the attack is slight, they are fed and milked as usual. If 
more severe, they are fed with bran, hay, &c, and the milking 
continued as ever. Some owners say that they throw away 
the milk from cows thus diseased, it being drawn only that the 
secretion may not be arrested. Others allow that they are less 
scrupulous ; some even confessing that those thus affected 
give far more, and better milk than when well. 

In several cases, which your committee have examined, 
there was found after death, a fungus growing out between 
the hoofs; several external orifices discharged a fetid pus ; 
while within, the bones were carious, the ligaments ulcerated, 
and the whole limb quite disorganized. Your committee in some 
instances have seen pus in the cellular tissue, extending up 
the foot. 

A peculiar disease, not found when the animal is kept in a 
healthy situation and fed with natural food, is a caries or 
absorption of the teeth. This is found most generally in the 
mouths of animals that have been kept in the stable for six 
months. They seem to be absorbed, appearing very much as 
one would suppose they might, had they been exposed to the 
effect of a strong acid. The general appearance is as if the 
crown of the teeth had been entirely decayed, leaving a yel- 
low, irregular stump or fang, less in size than the natural, as 
if that, too, had been partially absorbed. This fang is loose, 
moving easily under the finger, and in not a very long time falls 
out. There is little or no active inflammation around the teeth 
of the animals while alive, and apparently little pain, as they 
eat hay with them, though necessarily slowly. After death 
the alveolar processes are often found entirely absorbed. The 
maxillary glands are not generally enlarged. 

The reasons given by those engaged about the cows for this 
peculiar disease, are quite various. Some ascribe it to age. 
This is obviously incorrect, as the disease is seen in young 
cows equally with the old. Some give the extreme heat of 



on the Comparative Value of Milk. 7 

the " slop" as the cause, while others suppose the origin to be 
either the transitions from heat to cold, or the characteristic 
principles of the food. The probability is that all these three 
latter are essential agents in producing this disease. This 
opinion will be apparent from the following result of their ob- 
servations. The disease appears to be mainly confined to those 
teeth most exposed to the heat — the front teeth — while the 
grinders equally exposed to the chemical causes remain quite 
sound, when the incisors are completely destroyed. It is 
stated that the teeth of those animals which are kept at a dis- 
tance from the distillery, and where the food is necessarily 
cooled in its transportation, are less affected. These views, 
however, remain to be verified by future observations. True 
it is that from some cause or other, the teeth of cattle, thus 
situated and fed, are prematurely lost. It may be from this 
circumstance, that the horses employed in carrying out the 
milk, though kept in the same stables, are never fed upon 
this food, called so nutritious. 

Another peculiarity is the " elongated hoof." This has 
been considered a disease, but in the opinion of your com- 
mittee it is merely an elongation of the hoof from natural 
causes. This part of the animal, like every other, has a 
growth proportionate to its wants. In a natural state, the 
beast is walking and running about during the whole day, fre- 
quently upon rough and stony roads. This exercise wears 
down the hoof to the proper length ; but confined in the stable 
for months, the growth continues without the wear which 
would reduce it to the ordinary dimensions. It is for this 
simple reason that the hoofs of these animals are sometimes 
seen 8 or 10 inches in length, and preventing the animal from 
standing with ease. A similar occurrence is not unfrequently 
seen in caged birds, requiring, as with the cows, amputation. 
As well might the elongated finger-nails of the Chinese nobi- 
lity be called diseased, for they are not unfrequently several 
inches in length, and kept in gold cases to protect them from 
being broken. Any work must destroy them, and it is only 
as an evidence of a life of ease that they are prized. 

Besides these minor evils, there are others of greater mag- 
nitude. Not unfrequently the death of these cows is extremely 



8 Report of a Committee 

sudden. We have been informed by a dealer, that he has 
known a cow, apparently in good health, die while she was 
being milked, crushing in the fall the dairyman under her, and 
so confining him, that he could not rise without aid. What 
was the complaint, he knew not. 

Various other diseases affect them, some of which perhaps are 
not more frequent than among the same number elsewhere. 
In these establishments, however, they are regularly milked, 
notwithstanding their malady. We have seen at the stables 
in 16th street, one affected with hernia, another with a large 
fluctuating abscess on the buttock, apparently of sufficient 
size to contain a gallon of fluid. The teat of one that was 
accidentally cut was milked while the healing process was 
going on. Dr. Cock, jr., says that he has seen the genuine 
vaccine disease among them. Serious injuries from bruises, 
&c, are not of unfrequent occurrence. 

During the months of August, September, and October, 1847, 
an epidemic prevailed to a very fearful extent, in the pens of 
the distilleries, more than decimating their numbers. The 
first evidence of its attack, was the diminution of milk, 
decreasing a half in twelve hours. Its progress was then fear- 
fully rapid ; twenty-four hours frequently witnessed the ap- 
proach of the disease and the death of the animal. 

The treatment was various, and with equal success. Blood- 
letting and purging, which the symptoms and the pathology of 
the disease indicated, were useless, for few if any had the con- 
stitution to stand against it. Equally so were blistering and 
rowelling. Conscious that their confined state is an artificial 
one, the keepers generally limited their treatment to an 
attempt to restore them to more healthy influences. They 
were released from their stall, allowed to breathe fresh air, 
their slop removed, and its place supplied by meal, hay, and 
bran mashes. Bedding was placed under them, thus alleviat- 
ing their exit from the world. The change from their heated 
stable to a cooler atmosphere not unfrequently aggravated 
the disease. 

Your committee made post-mortem examinations of a num- 
ber of these animals, and found always the same pathological 
changes. The animals were some of them long residents in 



on the Comparative Value of Milk. 9 

these stables, which was known by their hoofs ; others appar- 
ently more recent comers. The skin was lustrous like the 
coat of a highly groomed horse, and the animals appeared 
well conditioned. On opening them, but little flesh was found 
to be upon them, their bloated state being the cause of 
their apparent good order. Scarcely a pound of fat could be 
found. The omentum, which in milch cows would generally 
vary from 20 to 25 pounds, in these animals would not weigh a 
pound. This was universally the case as far as we have seen, 
and it is reported to be always so in distillery fed animals. 
The stomach and intestines, as far as examined, were healthy. 

On opening the thorax, the whole cavity sometimes was 
filled with coagulable lymph and serum, but generally only 
one chest was thus affected. In several instances, the coagu- 
lable lymph and the serum appeared thrown "out in layers, 
the first forming as it were a sponge, which was fully absorbed 
with the serum. The quantity of lymph was so great, that it 
was at first taken for fat — a mistake which the similarity in 
color contributed in making. There were frequently many 
gallons of this effusion. In some instances the pleura pul- 
monalis was closely attached to the pleura costalis by strong 
and recent adhesions. In every instance, combined with the 
pleuritis, was an active inflammation of the cellular tissue of 
the lung itself, affecting sometimes one and sometimes both, 
to greater or less extent. This was seen in various stages ; 
one lung frequently exhibiting all the phenomena of pneumo- 
nia remarkably distinct, from the simple inflammation of a 
single lobe, to a general hepatization of the lung, so that it 
would sink entire in water ; or still further, in the state of soft 
degeneration. One of these lungs is reported to have weighed 
42 lbs. Save in one, single, doubtful instance, there was seen 
no trace of tubercle. As far as your committee could gather 
from those who are habitually employed in opening the dead 
animals, and turning them to the best possible use, tubercular 
deposits are not common, though they are occasionally seen. 
Their statement is of but little value, as it is doubtful if they 
know what is meant by tubercle. 

Some, possibly trivial, facts in the appearance of these 
animals have struck the attention of your committee, namely, 



10 Report of a Committee 

1st. The extreme brilliancy and unnatural wildness of the 
eye (which appearance alternates with the "besotted and 
staring" expression before mentioned), and the general lethargy 
of the body, and apparent absence of fear and anger. 

2d. The unpleasant smell of the breath, generally so sweet 
and agreeable, now reminding one of an old beer-bottle. 

3d. The immense quantity of urine, and small quantity of 
fasces evacuated daily, — the colorless appearance of the urine, 
and the want of consistency in the faeces, being softer than 
the dung of grass fed animals. 

4th. The manner in which the urine and faeces are discharged, 
standing in awkward positions, not unfrequently while reclin- 
ing, and the urine not flowing in a continuous stream, as is 
natural with this animal, but per saltum, by jets. The 
quantity of the urine may be imagined when informed that 
thirty-two gallons of slop is the daily allowance for each cow, 
and that ten quarts of milk per day is a large average yield. 

5th. They are very rarely seen chewing the cud. This 
arises from their food not requiring mastication. 

6th. Their difficulty in breathing during the heats of sum- 
mer — constantly panting as if they had been hard driven. 

Reasoning a priori in regard to the whole matter, consider- 
ing the facts, that several thousand cows are kept confined 
in a small space, deprived of all exercise — some hundreds 
under one roof but a few feet above their heads, in summer, 
heated to an intensity almost suffocating by the direct rays of 
the sun, by the steam from the boiling slop, by their own 
breath, and the exhalations from their bodies, constantly damp 
from the vapor arising from their food, and the floors wet with 
the ever flowing urine, standing and lying on hard boards, with- 
out litter by day or night ; fed on food, if not injurious in itself, 
certainly ill adapted to the formation of their stomachs, 
which need not possess so complicated an apparatus as the 
rumen, reticulum, and omasum, when the latter could easily 
fulfil all the duties required to digest this species of food — one 
would most surely arrive at the conclusion that these animals 
could not give natural and healthy milk. 

Your committee, having taken the best means in their 



on the Comparative Value of Milk. 11 

power to examine into this matter, now present to you the 
following results. 

In examining this subject your committee have been, in a 
great measure, compelled to make the road themselves, for no 
track was found opened before them. There has been no report 
seen of any European investigations of diseased milk. The 
treatise by Robert M. Hartley, Esq., of this city, a work 01 
great merit, was written to sustain an opinion ; and like all 
treatises on new topics, contains errors either arising from 
limited or hasty investigations, or from unscientific deduc- 
tions drawn from correct data. 

Your committee have endeavored to take nothing for 
granted, but have striven to verify by repeated observations, 
the truth or falsity of every statement, and endeavored to 
guard against any fraud. For this reason, every specimen of 
milk examined, has been personally obtained by the chairman 
of this committee, from the milkers themselves, and placed in 
the hands of the chemist. Any adulterations and additions 
have been made, therefore, by the producers themselves, and 
are not attributable to any of the retail venders. The distil- 
lery milk has all been obtained from Johnson's Distillery, 
Sixteenth Street and Tenth Avenue. The Orange County milk 
was bought at the depot, at the foot of Duane Street, without 
the knowledge of the proprietors of the object for which it 
was procured, and taken from the same can from which 
other customers were served. It, therefore, was not enriched 
with additional cream for the purpose. 

" The purity and richness of milk," says a recent standard 
writer,* " were formerly estimated by its specific gravity, 
which is about 1.032 ; if the milk was diluted with water, it 
was supposed that the gravity of the fluid would be in the 
first case increased, and in the second lessened. 

" The cream being the lightest element of the milk, its 
deficiency or abstraction would, of course, increase the 
density of the remaining fluid; and the addition of water, after 
the removal of the cream, which is also of less weight than 
milk which is even pure and rich, would of course raise the 

* Arthur Hill Hassall. 



12 Report of a Committee 

gravity of the milk either up to, or beyond its natural weight." 
This method of analysis has, therefore, been rejected. 

The chemical examinations were intrusted to Mr. Lawrence 
Reid, whose skill as an analytical chemist is well known to 
the members of the Academy. He has devoted much time 
and attention to the investigation, proposing and using new 
tests of its virtues, some of which will be hereafter mentioned, 
and displaying that zeal in the cause of science, which strongly 
recommends him to the favorable consideration and thanks of 
the Academy. 

For the microscopical investigations, the Academy is 
indebted to the practised eye and sound judgment of Dr. 
Alonzo Clark, Professor of Pathology in the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons, in this city. For his readiness in 
so materially assisting in this investigation, Dr. Clark will 
undoubtedly receive the acknowledgments of the Academy, 
as he has already the personal thanks of the committee. 

The reports of these gentlemen now follow in full. 

New York Hospital, Nov. 29th, 1847. 

Sir : — At the request of the committee of the Academy of 
Medicine on milk, I have made several analyses of distillery 
and other milks, and have the honor to report : 

1st. That of the various samples furnished me, none of the 
common sophistications were present, such as starch or car- 
bonate of lime, and that as far as chemical tests could enable 
me to determine, the samples were all genuine. 

2d. That with the exception of the sample marked No. 6 
in the analysis they were all of a neutral character when 
received, No. 6 being acid. 

3d. With regard to the assertion that distillery milk con- 
tains spirits, the milk has been tested on such a scale as to 
detect one fifty thousandth part of spirits if present, and none 
could be found. 

4th. With regard to distillery milk furnishing no butter, it 
is a mistake, as every sample, sixteen, gave butter on agita- 
tion in a bottle. The butter is whiter and in much smaller 
quantity than obtained from other milk, and this may be con- 
sidered a good test of distillery milk, the scantiness of the 



on the Comparative Value of Milk. 13 

butter. The butter also, in forming, associates itself with 
more curd and whey than that obtained from other milk. To 
examine milk for butter, a bottle containing a pint may be 
filled two thirds with milk, and well shaken for about one hour 
and a half, when the butter will separate. 

5th. With regard to the relative proportions in which the 
ingredients exist. The nature of fermentation and distillation 
is to abstract from the grain all the fecula and sugar, the 
principles that are more particularly convertible into butter 
and sugar ; leaving the nitrogenized compounds and also the 
caseine and earthy matter nearly untouched ; hence the in- 
creased quantity of ashes and also of caseine, the nitrogenized 
compound in milk ; while the sugar and butter are below the 
usual standard. 

6th. To test if this milk was decomposed by heat in the 
same manner and time as other milk, a portion was placed in 
a glass vessel and retained at the temperature of 98 degrees 
of heat for six hours before coagulation took place, while a 
portion of Orange County milk treated in the same manner 
coagulated in one hour. 

Whether this experiment is to be considered as having a 
bearing on the assimilation of the milk as food in the human 
stomach, I prefer leaving to the committee to decide. 

The samples are marked from one to six. No. 1 is a 
European analysis of milk by M. Haidlen, the most recent I 
could find. No. 2 is Orange County milk, being an average 
of two samples. Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, are distillery milk, about 
sixteen samples of which were examined. 
Yours respectfully, 

Lawrence Reid, 
Prof, of Chemistry to College of Pharmacy. 

A. K. Gardner, M. D., 

Chairman of Committee of the Academy of 
Medicine on Nuisances. 



14 



Report of a Committee 



ANALYSIS OF MILK. 





No. 1. 


No. 2. 


No. 3. 


No. 4. 


No. 5. 


No. 6. 


Water, - 


873.00 


860.00 


869.10 


876.00 


888.00 


898.00 


Butter, 


30.00 


35.00 


15.00 


14.00 


13.00 


10.00 


Caseine, - 


48.20 


45.00 


62.00 


59.00 


50.00 


45.00 


Sugar of Milk, - 


43.90 


53.00 


44.00 


42.00 


41.00 


40.00 


Phosphate of Lime, - 


2.31 


3.35 


4.20 


4.00 


3.20 


2.80 


" Magnesia, 


.42 


.76 


1.84 


1.56 


1.41 


1.20 


" Iron, 


.07 


.09 


.12 


.11 


.10 


.07 


Chloride of Potassium, 


1.44 


2.00 


2.97 


2.51 


2.46 


2.23 


" Sodium, 


.24 


.36 


.44 


.42 


.43 


.40 


Soda in combination ) 
with the caseine, \ 














.42 


.50 


.43 


.40 


.40 


.30 


1000. 


1000. 


1000. 


1000. 


1000. 


1000. 



Dear Doctor : — I have examined, with the aid of the mi- 
croscope, the four specimens of milk you sent me. Four 
statements will comprise all that I observe in them worthy of 
remark : 

1st. The milk-globules are less abundant in them than in 
specimens of good country milk, with which they have been 
compared. 

2d. The globules, though very variable in size, are gene- 
rally smaller than in good milk. 

3d. In three of the specimens there was an unusual ten- 
dency to aggregation in the globules, and when once aggre- 
gated they adhered in groups, so that mere agitation would 
not separate them. 

4th. In the last two specimens there was an unusual number 
of epithelial cells,* many of which were very markedly granu- 
lar, and some highly colored — in a few of these the milk- 



* " The cells covering the simple membranes that form the free surfaces of the 
body, whether external or internal, are all entitled to be regarded as secreting 
cells ; since they separate from the blood various products which are not again to 
be returned to it." (Carpenter's " Manual of Physiology," p. 408.) 

" From the researches of Mr. Goodsir, it appears that in common with other 
glandular structures, the inner surface of the milk-follicles is covered with epithelial 
cells, which being seen to contain milk-globules, may be without doubt regarded 
as the real agents in the secreting process." (Carpenter's Physiology, Clymer's 
ed., 1847. P. 649— see also " Anat. and Path. Obs.," by John and Harry D. 
S. Goodsir, p. 24.) 



on the Comparative Value of Milk. 15 

globules were still imprisoned, and of very small size ; showing 
that these secreting structures had been discharged from the 
lactiferous ducts of which they form the lining, before the 
complete elaboration of their contents. 

Your familiarity with the subject to which these statements 
relate, will render any comment on my part unnecessary. I 
submit them, therefore, as the basis of any remark which your 
wider range of research may justify. 

Your ob't servant, 

A. Clark. 
New York, Nov. 27, 1847. 
To Dr. Gardner. 

There are some persons who have attempted to deny that 
the health of the animal, or the food taken, can possibly affect 
the milk. The statement is so easily proved to be erroneous, 
that your committee would not think of noticing it, were it 
not urged so strenuously, that they feel compelled to give it a 
passing remark. 

It is a settled fact that many articles taken as food or 
medicine, into the stomach, have been detected in the milk a 
few moments after. The coloring matter of madder root, the 
odorous qualities of garlic and turpentine, neutral salts, nitrate 
of potassa, have all been found in the milk of women ;* the 
color and smell of carrots in the milk of an ass.f Cow's milk 
is well known to be so sensibly affected by carrots, turnips, 
onions, cabbages, as to be perceptible to the taste. It 
frequently possesses a bitter principle, when the animal has 
been grazing among young birch or other trees. That the 
properties, as well as the smell of various substances, are 
preserved, is evident from the common custom of purging the 
child by giving castor-oil to the mother. 

Every medical man knows that the lips of children nursed 
by a woman affected with syphilis, are frequently rendered 



* Microscopic Anatomy of the Human Body, by Arthur Hassall, London, 
1846. 

t Experiments of Peligot, " Cours de Microscopie," by Al. Donne, p. 454. 
Paris, 1844. 



16 Report of a Committee 

sore, and the whole constitution tainted with this loathsome 
malady. Yet Mons. Donne states that he has never been 
able to detect any change in the character of the milk in such 
cases. This instance is not a solitary one, for we all know 
that children are born affected with syphilis inherited from 
the father ; the poison thus passing through the systems of 
both parents, the child being diseased and the mother escaping 
free. 

Numerous statements have been made orally and written, 
by men of science and veracity, testifying to the marked 
effects of the slop-fed milk upon children, and the cessation of 
all disturbance and the restoration to health, immediately upon 
discontinuing the milk ; and numerous deaths, which under 
the head of Marasmus swell the lists of mortality, are 
ascribed in great measure to this cause. 

The common opinion is, that the milk is injurious. The 
keepers of the cows, the ignorant stable boys (who are com- 
posed of the most stupid Irish and Germans to be found), and 
the residents in the neighborhood, will not confess the use, 
or their willingness to drink this milk. One man who is 
employed upon these animals when dead, says, " no money 
would tempt him to drink the milk constantly, for cows that 
have such insides cannot give healthy milk." 

The chemical and microscopic reports both show, that the 
milk of animals fed on distillery slop is far weaker than the 
Orange County, the proportions of their constituents varying, 
but in some being as one to three. In 1000 parts of Orange 
County milk, 35 were butter; while of 1000 parts of distillery 
milk, there were found but 15, 14, 13, and even 10 parts only 
of butter. 

The original test of Mr. Reid, to discover the time neces- 
sary for coagulation, has evinced a most important fact, that 
the distillery milk will not coagulate in less than six hours, 
while pure milk, under the same influences, coagulates in one 
hour. This, with the observation of Dr. Clark, showing the 
peculiar tendency of the milk globules to conglomeration and 
the tenacity with which they adhere, appears to the com- 
mittee a most important matter. This alone may serve to 



on the Comparative Value of Milk. 17 

account for the whole disturbance caused to the system of the 
child fed on this nutriment. 

When the milk enters the human stomach its first change 
is coagulation, the second assimilation. If, therefore, a 
quantity of milk should refuse to coagulate, it remains as an 
indigestible substance in the stomach ; and we should suppose 
would produce the effects usual to children when their 
stomachs are loaded with improper food, — produce convul- 
sions, vomiting, and purging. 

The deduction from the fourth head of Dr. Clark's report is 
perhaps as important, but less obvious. From the increased 
color of the epithelial cells, which may be ascribed to a diseased 
condition, and other peculiarities mentioned, we can suppose 
an unnatural state, perhaps caused by over-stimulation. 

Such as we have mentioned are the condition of the 
animals and their appearance when dead, the a priori deduc- 
tions, and the microscopic and chemical analyses. The 
question now arises, what are the real effects produced by the 
milk. The answer to this question is highly important. 
What is it ? 

About the year 1840, at the solicitation of R. M. Hartley, 
Esq., the following statement was signed by fifty-eight medi- 
cal gentlemen of New York, including in the list many of the 
most distinguished in the profession, and among them, the 
president and vice-presidents of this Academy. " The under- 
signed, physicians of the city of New York, being requested 
to express our opinion in relation to the milk of cows fed 
chiefly on distillery slop, have no hesitation in stating that 
they believe such milk to be extremely detrimental to the 
health, especially of young children, as it not only contains too 
little nutriment for the purposes of food, but appears to possess 
unhealthy and injurious properties, owing in part, probably, to 
the confinement of the cows, and the bad air which they 
consequently have to breathe, as well as the unnatural and 
pernicious nature of the slop on which they are fed." 

Prof. Charles A. Lee, formerly professor of Materia Medica 
in the University of New York, states the effects as follow : — 
" Children who are fed with ' still-slop-milk' have a pale, 
cachectic appearance, are extremely subject to scrofula, and 

2 



18 Report of a Committee 

are liable to take every epidemic disease prevalent. To 
scarlet-fever, measles, hooping-cough, they are particularly 
subject, and will take them upon the slightest exposure; such 
children being apt to sink under any serious disease with 
which they may be attacked. There is a laxity of the solids 
and a vitiated condition of the fluids, which predispose them 
to disease in its most malignant form, &c." 

Again he says, " I could give you any number of cases 
where the health of children has been utterly destroyed by 
the use of still-slop milk ; and I could convince you that the 
cholera infantum itself, the great scourge of our city, is in 
fact chiefly caused by the use of this milk, either by the 
mother or child ; for it is a singular fact, that in the large 
cities of Europe, where other causes of disease, with the 
exception of this, are as prevalent as in New York, this 
disease is absolutely unknown. Hence the efficacy of a 
removal to the country ; as a change of diet is the necessary 
consequence." 

Dr. Alex. H. Stevens, Prof, of the New York College of 
Physicians and Surgeons, states of a child about eighteen 
months old, who while a resident in his family was in perfect 
health, on moving to a hotel, was constantly affected with 
uncontrollable vomiting. The milk being suspected to be 
the cause, it was thenceforward sent from the Dr.'s family, 
when the complaint entirely ceased, and was renewed only 
with a renewal of the milk from the hotel, and this occurring 
so repeatedly as to leave no doubt of the cause. 

Dr. W. N. Blakeman's child was afflicted with obstinate 
vomiting and purging, great loss of flesh, and extreme 
emaciation. Nothing gave relief. It was seen by many 
physicians, among them Dr. Dering, formerly Registrar of the 
New York College of Physicians and Surgeons, Dr. Beck, 
professor in the same institution, and many others. On 
discovering that the milk on which the child was fed, was from 
distillery slop-fed cows, it was changed, and the child was 
soon completely renovated, leaving no doubt in the minds of 
any of the physicians that the impure milk was the cause. 

Dr. Cyrus Weeks had an infant child brought up by hand* 
fed for a single day on slop milk ; a diarrhoea would commence, 



on the Comparative Value of Milk. 19 

which was speedily cured by omitting the food. This 
experiment was repeatedly tried, and with uniform results. 

Dr. Trudeau gives the case of a child with protracted and 
severe diarrhoea, which was nourished upon milk alone. A 
change of diet entirely removed all bad symptoms in a few 
days' time. He states : " I am satisfied that distillery milk has 
done a deal of harm, and that the increased ratio of mortality 
among the children within a few years has no other cause." 

These instances are, doubtless, similar to those in the 
experience of many. They seem to show conclusively, the 
deleterious qualities hidden in milk, produced in this unnatural 
manner. 

Your committee, having expressed calmly and deliberately 
their opinions, do present for the consideration of the Academy 
the following resolutions. 

Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Academy, the milk of 
cows shut up in stables and fed on distillery slops, is not only 
less nutritious than that of unconfined and well-fed animals, 
but is positively deleterious, especially to young children, and 
is a fruitful cause of many fatal diseases. 

Resolved, That the Academy deems it proper to make 
known to the public authorities the existence of this evil, to 
the end that they may take such action in the premises as in 
their wisdom they may think fit. 

All of which is respectfully submitted. 

Augustus K. Gardner, Chairman. 



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